I think there are certain folks in Missouri that don't trust government. And they haven't trusted government for a long time.

Do I want Social Security to be there for my kids and my grandkids? Absolutely. Will I fight like a tiger to make sure that we protect Social Security? I absolutely will.

I worry about the lack of experience that Rex Tillerson has had on the diplomatic front and, frankly, I think that's true for many of the appointments to [Donald] Trump's cabinet.

I've been very independent from the day I arrived in Washington.

We have had a lot of whistle-blowing going on out of the Department of Homeland Security, low morale. I want to make sure [John Francis Kelly] understands the agency he's stepping into. So I'll reserve judgment until after confirmation hearings.

There are three legs of the stool; spending, entitlements and making the tax code fair and equitable. That's the three legs of the stool. If we do all of those in a responsible, bipartisan way, I think the American people would all be very, very happy.

I was really shocked after all of this talk about coal miners and all of this talk about Buy America, the Republicans and the House of Representatives gutted health care and pension protections for coal miners and removed the Buy America provision that had been put in the bill in a bipartisan basis.